


Road to Nowhere

by DarkCh1ld



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-18
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-21 08:36:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4822439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkCh1ld/pseuds/DarkCh1ld





	1. Chapter 1

I remember the day.

The sound of steel clashing echoed in the stormy gray sky, but above it all I heard my first mate’s voice screaming to me— _at_ me—to run, move… _escape_. If they couldn’t make it, at least I could. I hesitated—this was my crew, my ship; I would go down with it if I had to.

“By the gods, Alden, _go_!”

With that final, desperate call, I turned tail and fled, diving into the turbulent waters and swimming as fast as I could towards dry land. The distant sounds of struggle faded just enough to keep me focused, and I reached shore in five or ten minutes. Despite the soreness of my body, I knew I still wasn’t safe. I stumbled to my feet and sprinted for the only place I knew I might have solitude: Wildehollow Mountain, particularly the temple near the peak. The gash across my abdomen stung from the tepid water, but I powered through the pain and trudged determinedly up the rocky slopes.

Within an hour, I had reached the temple, and relief flooded me. However, as I cleared the last bluff, my stomach dropped and I froze at the sight of the carnage around me. Bodies lay burned and broken across the ground, their faces frozen in a grotesque mask of terror and agony. Some seem to have been disemboweled, and judging by the emptiness, their entrails had been consumed by their attackers. I stepped carefully over the corpses, fighting back bile at the mess, and headed for the prayer shrine. Instead of the continued corpses like I expected, there was one lone soul, surrounded on all sides by blood, kneeling in front of the pedestal with his head bowed.

 _Did he kill the holy men, or is he a victim as well?_ I pondered as I stepped closer, aware that he’d probably already sensed my presence. As I suspected, at the sound of my boots scuffling across the desecrated ground, he tensed and looked up, eyes pinning on me.

There was blood on him as well—his own, if the three scars lacerating his left eye meant anything—and soaking into his pants, no doubt from unseen wounds on his legs.

“What has happened here?” I asked quietly, slowly moving towards the man.

Now that I looked closer, he looked rather young, just barely out of his teens. His wild dark blond hair was tangled and matted with blood and sweat, falling over his eyes. Speaking of eyes—now that they were turned to me, I could see that his left eye was milky white, and only his right eye, the dark lavender one, was actually focused on me. _Half-blind, I guess. Who would do such a thing to such a young man?_

He still hadn’t responded to my question, just continued to stare me down with a look so anguished it tore at my soul. I finally got close enough to kneel down in front of the blond and asked again, “What has happened? Who attacked you?” Still, he did not speak.

“Can you talk?” Perhaps his ability to speak had been taken away. I didn’t see any injuries to his throat, however.

The young man nodded, but kept silent.

I tried another question, “ _Will_ you talk?”

He shook his head. Well, that made my work much harder. I decided to try a different tactic. Placing a gentle hand on the young man’s arm, I calmly intoned, “I want you to tap me once for no and twice for yes, alright?”

Instantly, there were two taps to my wrist.

“Good, good. Now, were these men your teachers?”

One tap.

“Caretakers?”

Two taps.

“Did you kill them?”

That lavender eye widened and there was a vicious stab of a nail into my skin.

“Okay, okay, I just had to check. Were the people who killed them human?”

It took far longer than I would have liked, but through our game of questions I learned as much as I could about the blond: his name was Koji, he was 20 years old, his caretakers were killed by bandits, he managed to kill his attacker and hide, and by the time he came from hiding the holy men were already dead. I also learned that he’d taken a vow of silence, and that was why he wouldn’t speak to me with words. The easiest way to get information from him was to ask a yes or no question and wait for the tap.

“I only have one final question for you, Koji. Would you like to come with me? I have a hideout in the city that we can recuperate at; those wounds on your legs need to be looked at, and I need to deal with my own wounds.”

Koji nodded and I helped him struggle to his feet. Before we left, he grabbed a pair of black katana with crimson hilts and a few spare sets of clothing, and we limped together to what I affectionately call The Crow’s Nest.


	2. Chapter 2

Two months after that first meeting, Koji and Alden had become inseparable. Whether it was because of Alden’s lack of any other company or Koji’s seemingly-constant need for care, neither was sure, but they never complained about the happenstance.

More often than not, Alden found himself watching Koji train his body to adjust to his new limitations; being half-blind actually led to him developing _better_ senses than usual, especially in his one good eye. There was almost nothing that Alden could get past the ninja. Conversely, Koji could never hide his emotions from Alden, even when he wore his signature white and purple mask over most of the bottom half of his face. Gauging Koji’s moods through his eye and actions had become second-nature to the former pirate.

They communicated through a series of hand signs and the tried-and-true yes/no tapping method. As time went on, Alden realized he was developing more serious feelings for the blond, but he kept them to himself.

It wasn’t until the last week of their occupation of The Crow’s Nest that Koji showed that he reciprocated those feelings fully by kissing him in the middle of his training.

Their first time wasn’t until the night before they decided to venture out of their hiding spot for some much-needed supplies. Alden was sitting on a haystack covered in a few soft blankets, fleshing out his plans for their next move, when Koji—wrapped entirely in another blanket—curled up next to him and buried his face in the crook of Alden’s neck.

“Koji? Are you cold?” The ninja nodded and burrowed closer, breathing deeply against Alden’s skin. The brunet knew that his body was a furnace in the best of times, so the snuggling didn’t faze him. It was when he felt sharp teeth nip at him through cloth that he jumped and looked down at his partner. “Koji, what are you doing?”

The younger man just looked up at him from under long blond lashes, the beginnings of a small smile showing through his mask.

“Koji, I hope you know you're playing with fire right now,” Alden warned, gold and blue eyes narrowing dangerously. He felt two taps against his abdomen, right over the still-healing scar, and the tight thread of his control snapped. An aborted sound of shock stuck in Koji’s throat as he was flipped onto his back, his hands pinned to the blankets above his head. Alden held the ninja’s wrists in one hand, carefully pulling the mask down around Koji’s neck. He traced the scars over Koji’s eye with practiced gentleness, smiling down at the ninja when he flushed shyly.

“So innocent, Koji,” he teased, leaning down and licking at the seam of Koji’s lips. The plump pink petals fell open of their own volition, inviting Alden to plunder—and who was he to refuse his calling? Koji let out a high, desperate sound when Alden licked at his tongue, coaxing it into play. The pirate’s free hand slid down Koji’s chest, pausing momentarily over the red skull tattooed on his left pectoral, and then continued down to his navel. Alden grinned when Koji jumped at the feeling of a nail scratching at his side, pulling away from the kiss and whispering, “Would you like me to continue?”

The blond nodded hesitantly, shivering lightly.

“Are you sure, Koji? I’ll understand if you want to stop,” Alden pulled back completely, looking down at Koji seriously.

Koji frowned for a moment before reaching up and circling a finger around his heart and then placing that hand on Alden’s chest. Alden’s breath hitched in his throat at the sign they’d developed for _I trust you with my life_. He twined his fingers with Koji’s, kissing the back of his hand.

“You are more than I deserve,” he growled hoarsely, watching Koji shudder in pleasure at the vibrations traveling along his skin. Alden pinned Koji’s hands above his head again, but released his wrists with a firm, “You don’t move until I tell you to, understand?”

Koji nodded, staring wide-eyed up at Alden as the pirate slid down his body, pulling off the sash around his waist as he went.


End file.
